Snow! and Anniversary Beer Dinner

We woke to almost 2 inches of snow this morning! I snapped these very quickly from the door in my pjs around 7:30am. The sun came out and melted almost all of it by noon.

This week Grady and I celebrated our anniversary early due to an event we couldn't pass up. Our favorite local chef, Ty Thames (see write up in Feb. Southern Living!), put on a Lazy Magnolia beer tasting dinner. Lazy Magnolia is Mississippi's only brewery, and the owner/brewmaster got her degree in Chemical Engineering at MSU. She said she couldn't think of anything better to do with her degree, so she started making beer. It's worked out pretty well for her! Ty used different beers in each of the 4 courses of this tasting dinner and it was awesome. Erica, these pictures are for you!

Our friends Brien and Amanda lived in Colorado for a while and they really appreciate a good microbrew. Brien stated that this dinner was "...the coolest thing to ever happen in Starkville."

We got a babysitter for probably the 3rd time ever - Delia goes everywhere with us.

Dave (who brews beer as a hobby and is VERY good at it) and his girlfriend Christina drove over an hour from Tuscaloosa for the event!

First course: Indian Summer Braised Pork shank served in an Indian summer beer and Mississippi honey glaze. Served with Lazy Magnolia Indian Summer, Spiced Ale.

Second Course: oops... couldn't stop eating the sweet potato dumplings...

Second Course: (I flagged down a waitress with a tray) Vardaman Sweet potato gnocchi with southern pecan “Old Country” sausage served in a truffle and Parmesan cream sauce. Served with Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan, Pecan Ale.

Third Course: Pulled pork sandwich served on a City Bagel jalapeño cheddar bun with Jefferson Stout barbeque sauce. Served with Lazy Magnolia Jefferson Stout.

Is that Coca-Cola? Nope - it's the Lazy Magnolia stout. Very chocolatey and coffee-ey.

Dessert: Southern Gold Beignets dusted with powdered sugar. Made with Lazy Magnolia's Southern Gold in place of the water usually used in the beignet dough. Brien seemed to get the short end of the stick on a few of these courses; super-small pork shank, etc. Here he points out what appears to be a Colorado-shaped beignet next to everyone else's Mississippi beignets.

And last, but not least, what's Delia up to these days?? Getting big and talking a lot! Here are some of the things she is talking about:

doe = dog
wuh wuh = woof woof/dog
goodah goodah goodah = good good good
hot = hot
bah = ball
bah bah = chicken/bock bock
mmmmm = mooooo
app = apple
duck = sock
dee yah = Delia
dat = everything else not on this list